“This courtroom drama hits a contemporary nerve, questions how to respond to terrorist incidents. More so, like a bomb it explodes the audience’s moral position and leaves them quarrelling.”Allgemeine Zeitung Mainz, 2 Apr 2016

The scene: A law court.
The audience: The jury.

In Ferdinand von Schirach’s play the audience give their verdict, “guilty” or “not guilty.” The results of the decisions are continually updated and shown on this site.

88
theaters programmed the play during the 2015/16 and 2016/17 seasons.

Thanks to Sara Örtel – Deutsches Theater Göttingen - for her suggestion to collate and document the results.

Major Lars Koch, pilot of a German Army Eurofighter, faces your verdict. A Lufthansa-Airbus is high-jacked by terrorists; Major Koch is ordered to divert the Airbus from its course - can he do the right thing? There are 164 people on board Flight LH 2047, Berlin to Munich. The Airbus has suddenly changed course for the Allianz-Arena where a capacity crowd of 70,000 have gathered for the Germany verses England international. Major Koch must react. What are his orders? If the terrorist do not change course, can he, should he, shoot down a passenger jet? The clock ticks, Lars Koch makes a decision.

Ferdinand von Schirach’s debut play questions the very notion of human dignity. Can any human life be measured against others, regardless of the number? What circumstances could there ever be be, to avoid one catastrophe with possibly a smaller catastrophe? Who is responsible? Is it only Lars Koch alone here on trial?

The Jury decides.

Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus – Foto: Sebastian Hoppe

Ferdinand von Schirach

Germany’s DER SPIEGEL called him “a magnificent storyteller”, the NEW YORK TIMES an “exceptional stylist” and the British INDEPENDENT compared him to Kafka and Kleist.

Ferdinand von Schirach’s story collections “Crime” and “Guilt” and his novels “The Collini Case” and “The Girl Who Wasn’t There” were bestsellers, selling in millions in 35 different countries. Schirach has received many literature awards, internationally too; these include the prestigious Kleist Prize.

France’s LIBERATION accounts for his success so: “Schirach’s master-stroke is to show that no matter how monstrous the deed is, human beings remain human beings.”

“This courtroom drama hits a contemporary nerve, questions how to respond to terrorist incidents. More so, like a bomb it explodes the audience’s moral position and leaves them quarrelling.”— Allgemeine Zeitung Mainz, 2 Apr 2016